Adding "Blur Boxes" over people's faces

[sabotage]

I used my digicam to record some funny stuff but don't wanna get my friends in any shit if someone of any importance doesn't like it. I have them in shitty little resolution as my cam is a few years old. I was wondering what program and/or how I could go about to add in one of those pixelation boxes to cover up their face or like an image to just cover it up... Thanks guys!

[midiguy]

hmm, perhaps try a long filter string of logo away in virtualdub, but that could be very tedious. I'm sure there is a simpler and much easier and more effective way to do it..

[mpucoder]

I've never tried that effect offline, but I can tell you how it's done online. The DFX (digital effects) is set to Mosaic 8:1 (this means that the picture is broken into 8x8 blocks, all the pixels take on the average value). This is then matted in using circle or oval wipe with soft edge. The postitioning is done with the wipe center joystick, size is controlled by wipe percentage.

Now, to do that in a computer means using something more sophisticated than VDub, because it has no effect filters (they require 2 or more sources). Adobe AfterEffects, or Avid are designed for this. Neither is cheap.

If you have a video mixer, such as an MX-1 or even AVE-5, you could do it and re-record those portions.